Vivienne Westwood urges against fracking

LONDON (AP) — Never mind the fashion: Vivienne Westwood has it down to a T. More importantly, the veteran designer wants to talk about fracking and the floods wreaking havoc in Britain.

The grand dame's show notes urged guests at her London Fashion Week showcase Sunday to join a rally against fracking, a technique the energy industry uses to extract oil and gas from rock by injecting high-pressure mixtures of water, sand or gravel and chemicals. She also told reporters backstage that climate change must be addressed to stop the damage caused by extreme weather conditions.

Commenting on Britain's relentlessly wet and windy winter, the designer told of how gale-force winds forced her and her husband to get off their bicycles on their way home this week "because we would have been blown into the river."